Life Satisfaction Trend and Mortality After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Cohort Study

Individuals with traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCIs) have lower subjective well-being and diminished longevity, yet there is a lack of research on how life satisfaction and changes in life satisfaction relate to longevity.

To identify the relationships between survival status and life satisfaction and its changing trend over a 10-year period.

Data were taken from the SCI Longitudinal Aging Study. A cohort study of 676 adult participants with SCI completed three assessments separated by 5-year intervals. We applied the survival analyses by using person-year logistic regression models.

There were 135 participants (20%) who were deceased by the end of 2019. After controlling for demographic and injury factors, life satisfaction was significantly related to survival. In the final model, having an upward trend of life satisfaction was significantly associated with lower odds of mortality, whereas a downward trend in life satisfaction was not significant.

Our findings demonstrate the importance of current life satisfaction and having a trend toward improving satisfaction to survival. The findings indicated the importance of psychosocial adaptation to life quality and longevity after SCI.